Pattern description from A History of Hand Knitting: “… knitted in the round in multi-coloured stranded stockinet, of spun silk at a tension of about 7 stitches to the centimetre (3/8 in.). …The main patterns differ on each bag….” (see pages 50-52)

The original gauge was 7 sts to 1 cm (3/8 of an inch), and knit out of wool and silk. It was knit in the round.

Pattern charted in A History of Handknitting (page 52) reproduces design of a 14 century relic purse, a small bag intended to hold a relic of a saint.